Jump to content

Menu

The Great Courses Master Class List


Recommended Posts

Many of the WTM high school board members utilize the Great Courses (The Teaching Company) lecture series in crafting their homeschool courses.  For my students, I know TTC lectures add a depth and a richness that I, as the teacher, probably could not achieve on my own.

 

I count on coming to the board to ask for course recommendations and suggestions on how to best utilize the materials and am at times frustrated with the search when looking for what I need.

 

What I propose is to create a Great Courses Master Class List with four separate posts at the top under this original one: history and literature, science, mathematics and technology, fine arts (music, art, architecture) and religion and philosophy.

 

What I envision happening is that members would write about their favorite TTC course, talking about what they and their student liked about it, what subject they used it in, how they used it, and any supporting materials that they think might be useful.

 

For example, if someone wrote about using Philip DaileaderĂ¢â‚¬â„¢s Early, High and Late Middle Ages series in conjunction with SWBĂ¢â‚¬â„¢s History of the Medieval World book for the tenth grade Great Book work in TWTM, I would edit the post that contained Ă¢â‚¬Å“History and LiteratureĂ¢â‚¬ to name the lecture series and then the post number of the reviewer.

 

Eventually, if a member were looking for suggestions for planning a year of ancient history using some Great Courses lectures, they could go to the thread, find the history/literature post, look under Ă¢â‚¬Å“AncientĂ¢â‚¬ and see History of the Ancient World: A Global Perspective #7, 21, 25. Post 7 would show that Swimmermom3 used it for a semester with an AP World History and thought it was great.  Post 21 would show that Mtn. TeachingĂ¢â‚¬â„¢s son got through the first 4 lectures and loathed the professor because of A, B, and C. (Sorry Mtn., I just used you as an exampleJ) Hopefully, you all get the idea.

 

One other thought would be to maybe go ahead and post TTC priority codes and other offers here. Perhaps maybe list if you are looking for some particular courses. That way if Swimmermom is perusing Amazon or ebay and sees a good price, she can pm you. I may be getting ahead of myself too.

 

Please let me know if you have ideas for making this a more useful tool.

 

*For courses that members have used successfully with middle school students, please see Post #28.

 

thru 17

  • Like 20
Link to comment
Share on other sites

History - ( time frames are from TWTM, may need adjusting)

 

Ancient - BC 5000 to 400 AD

War and World History, (Lectures 1-15) Posts #9,12

The History of Science: Antiquity to 1700 (Lectures 1-12) Posts #78

 

Medieval/Early Renaissance -  400-1600 AD

War and World History, (Lectures 16 - 26) Posts #9,12

 

Late Renaissance/Early Modern -  1600-1850 AD

War and World History, (Lectures 27 - 36) Posts #9,12

Foundations of Western Civilization II, (Lectures 1-27) Posts 14

 

Modern Times - 1850 to present

War and World History, (Lectures 37-48) Posts #9,12

Foundations of Western Civilization II (Lectures 28-48) Posts # 14

 

Advanced Placement History - World (W), European (E), and U.S. (US)

High School Level - World History: The Fertile Crescent to the American Revolution  (W) Posts #6

Foundations of Western Civilization II (E) Posts #14

 

 

Literature

 

Ancient

The Iliad of Homer    - Posts #7

The Odyssey of Homer   - Posts #7

The Aeneid - Posts #13

 

Medieval

Early Modern

Modern

 

Composition

 


 

 

  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'll start.

 

Mathematics -

 

High School Geometry - the kids watch the lectures and I correct the problems that are in the guidebook which they complete immediately following the lecture. The next day we break out Harold Jacob's Geometry and to the corresponding lesson/s usually sets 1 and 2, sometimes if there is a lot since they've already done 10-12 problems from the guidebook, I'll assign odds.. Many times they do not need my help, sometimes they do. There are, if memory serves, 32 lectures and I use the chapter exams in Jacob's as well or at least tweak them to fit along with the lecture series.  We spread it over one semester and that seems to be fine for them because my guys take to proof writing pretty readily. If they struggled, then I would definitely take two semesters.

 

Algebra 1 - I teach the first four chapters of Lial's Beginning Algebra very intensively, sometimes even breaking a lesson into two parts and being very, very thorough. After that they do the corresponding lectures and problems in the guidebook for review. If they do well, then they can continue with the lectures - I remediate and make sure they understand the concepts - and add 20 - 30 problems from the book to each lecture so they get enough practice. I use the chapter exams in Lial's to create quarterly and semester exams. I do the same for Algebra 2, I will do a brief review of algebra 1 IF we chose to break it up with geometry in between. DD and middle boy did the algebra's back to back, eldest boy really wanted an algebra break and completed geometry in between....he's artistic and LOVED geometry. After that, I am available for any kind of help they need, but using the lectures - Dr. Sellers is very good at explaining concepts - has allowed me to juggle teaching three high schoolers at one time who are not in the same math at the same time, and rarely anything at once. History is the only thing I've managed to stream line for the three of them to study together.

 

History - We use the lecture series, History of the World from the Fertile Crescent to the American Revolution as an add on to our AP World History - World's Together, World's Apart. Professor L  is an interesting lecturer, and well, he spices things up by dressing in period garb and lecturing in terrible fake accents. It's kind of a riot. His toga and laurel wreath outfit is a stitch! It just helps because AP texts are pretty dry all things considered. We use some of the essay questions from the guidebook in addition to the questions and chapter reviews in the text, and they take notes on every lecture. That's a biggie for me. I want them to learn to take notes during a lecture and maintain a notebook that aids in studying for exams or producing writing assignments.

 

Science - Introductory Astronomy for high schoolers hasn't been easy to find. I use the astronomy videos plus Night Sky in combo with assignments that I hand created along with assignments from MIT's opencourseware Solar System/Planets syllabus. It's a three way combo, and includes a night sky viewing notebook. It really helped my youngest get quite adept with out 8" telescope. That said, I have to be flexible because Michigan is not one of the better viewing states. It's entirely possible to have only one or two decent nights in a single month.

 

Fine Arts - We used How to Listen to and Understand Music with out oldest boy and it was a really great series which I combined then with required concerts to either attend and review or watch on PBS. He kept a lecture notebook as well as wrote reviews and some other light writing assignments.

 

Masterpieces of Louvre went with Sister Wendi videos combined with Jenkins' "History of Art for Young People" for a credit of Art History. Lecture notes, comparison and contrast essays, and a couple of short papers comprised the bulk of the work along with trips to the DIA and CIA with writing assignments connected to those trips, and doing some artwork through the DIA's "Drawing in the Gallery" program. It was a lot of reading plus the lecturing so with the assignments plus the very high quality of ds's essays, I felt very comfortable giving him a whole credit though I have to admit it was not difficult work for him to complete and didn't take two full semesters to complete.

 

Next year we will use their Economics course as a social studies elective along with the half credit of American Government. I have a couple of simple texts to use for these courses and will supplement with the lectures.

 

Also, new for next year, is a couple of literature and composition courses. Eldest ds decided to switch his major to English and since he's a senior this fall and had previously been STEM headed so he had a heavy science and math transcript, I needed to change course rapidly and make sure he's up to speed. So, he'll utilize two of their courses PLUS he'll take College Writing at the CC (the good one an 1 + away from here), and he'll have an art appreciation course at the same CC, a course that is known for being writing heavy. I'll post reviews next year when I get done and let you know what I think of those lecture series.

 

Apart from that, we just really like the lectures as a family so we've been known to pop in comparative religion lectures, or medieval history, or ....and just watch together as a family.

  • Like 8
Link to comment
Share on other sites

The second Great Course lecture series we ever used for school was The Iliad of Homer by Elizabeth Vandiver. Even now, after watching dozens of GC courses, this remains one of our favorites. The lectures were recommended to us by a long-time board member and I must admit that I was at first, unimpressed by the speakerĂ¢â‚¬â„¢s delivery. It may take some viewers a while to realize the level of depth, analysis, and enthusiasm that Professor Vandiver brings to the subject, or maybe we are just slow.

 

I last used both the Iliad and The Odyssey of Homer with my youngest for his 9th grade study of ancient history and literature. We followed the Essential Reading suggestions in the course guidebooks, using the Robert Fagles translations for both epics. We listened to all 12 lectures per epic and spent about 4-5 weeks on each. I think I required one paper and that was it. We spent many memorable hours discussing the literature and were blown away at being able to pull so much from works so remote from our own modern lives.

 

I now own every series by Vandiver and consider it to be money and time well-spent. Without her, Sailor Dude and I would probably still think that Achilles was a great blubbering idiot when it came to losing his concubine.

  • Like 12
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Science - Introductory Astronomy for high schoolers hasn't been easy to find. I use the astronomy videos plus Night Sky in combo with assignments that I hand created along with assignments from MIT's opencourseware Solar System/Planets syllabus. It's a three way combo, and includes a night sky viewing notebook. It really helped my youngest get quite adept with out 8" telescope. That said, I have to be flexible because Michigan is not one of the better viewing states. It's entirely possible to have only one or two decent nights in a single month.

 

 

:001_wub: Faith, thanks so much for diving right in. Your descriptions were exactly what I was hoping for.

 

Is the Introductory Astronomy one this one?  Or was it an older one specifically for high school students?

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The second Great Course lecture series we ever used for school was The Iliad of Homer by Elizabeth Vandiver. Even now, after watching dozens of GC courses, this remains one of our favorites. The lectures were recommended to us by a long-time board member and I must admit that I was at first, unimpressed by the speakerĂ¢â‚¬â„¢s delivery. It may take some viewers a while to realize the level of depth, analysis, and enthusiasm that Professor Vandiver brings to the subject, or maybe we are just slow.

 

I last used both the Iliad and The Odyssey of Homer with my youngest for his 9th grade study of ancient history and literature. We followed the Essential Reading suggestions in the course guidebooks, using the Robert Fagles translations for both epics. We listened to all 12 lectures per epic and spent about 4-5 weeks on each. I think I required one paper and that was it. We spent many memorable hours discussing the literature and were blown away at being able to pull so much from works so remote from our own modern lives.

 

I now own every series by Vandiver and consider it to be money and time well-spent. Without her, Sailor Dude and I would probably still think that Achilles was a great blubbering idiot when it came to losing his concubine.

:iagree:  Totally!

 

Conceptual Physics  This was 9th grade science class for both my kids (using the Hewitt text) and I supplemented the class with the course "Physics in Your Life" (here http://www.thegreatcourses.com/tgc/courses/course_detail.aspx?cid=1260) taught by Prof. Richard Wolfson. My kids and I liked it because the prof was interesting and provided relevant demonstrations. He suggests you watch the course in order, but concedes that it can be done out of order.  The first module is on light and sound, the second is on forces, and so on.  Most physics courses (including conceptual) begin with mechanics and get to light and sound much later, so I just skipped around but used the module as a whole.  I only wanted dc to take notes while watching.

 

History For my ds, who is interested in weapons, I have used "War and World History" ( here http://www.thegreatcourses.com/tgc/courses/course_detail.aspx?cid=8870) taught by Jonathan Roth.  My son listens to the lecture and writes down 6 - 8 interesting facts.  He started the course last year while learning Ancient History and is continuing this year through the 1800s.  It is a 24 disc (CD) class (48 lectures), so he has been listening to the lectures relevant to the time period studied.  We think it is interesting because it's not just about weaponry, but also the politics and innovations that come from/because of war.

 

p.s. sorry I don't know how to connect the web site to the title I typed in

  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

:001_wub: Faith, thanks so much for diving right in. Your descriptions were exactly what I was hoping for.

 

Is the Introductory Astronomy one this one?  Or was it an older one specifically for high school students?

 

It's the older one for high schoolers and it's wearing out! :crying:  :svengo:  :sad:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

History For my ds, who is interested in weapons, I have used "War and World History" ( here http://www.thegreatcourses.com/tgc/courses/course_detail.aspx?cid=8870) taught by Jonathan Roth.  My son listens to the lecture and writes down 6 - 8 interesting facts.  He started the course last year while learning Ancient History and is continuing this year through the 1800s.  It is a 24 disc (CD) class (48 lectures), so he has been listening to the lectures relevant to the time period studied.  We think it is interesting because it's not just about weaponry, but also the politics and innovations that come from/because of war.

 

p.s. sorry I don't know how to connect the web site to the title I typed in

 

My oldest son would have loved this course!

 

Bugs, would you mind please, if you have a chance, to take a look at the course and split it up according to the time frames in the second post? You reminded me that many of the courses are used over more than one year.  I will probably list the course something like following:

 

Ancient History to 400 AD

"War and World History" - Lectures 1-15

 

If you don't have time, no worries.

 

Did you by any chance happen to add in The Art of War?

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

My history breakdown is a bit odd based on what I was trying to cover with ds.  

 

Ancient History - 400 AD War & World History Lectures 1-15 (professor spends the first lecture or so defining war)

History about 400 - 1800 War & World History Lectures 16 - 34

History about 1800 - 1900 War & World History Lectures 35 -40

History about 1900 - Current War & World History Lectures 41 - 48

 

 

Here is the "traditional" WTM breakdown (very rough)

Ancient History - 400 AD War & World History Lectures 1-15
History from 400 - 1600 - Lectures would be 16-26,  

Then Early Modern History (1600 - 1800 or so) - Lectures 27 - 36

Finally Modern History - Lectures 37-48

 

Whoa, I hope that isn't too confusing.

 

I did not know about the Art of War.  On a side note: He is reading "A Book of Five Rings" by Miyamoto Musashi. 

 

ETA: This thread is a good idea.

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

The second Great Course lecture series we ever used for school was The Iliad of Homer by Elizabeth Vandiver. Even now, after watching dozens of GC courses, this remains one of our favorites. The lectures were recommended to us by a long-time board member and I must admit that I was at first, unimpressed by the speakerĂ¢â‚¬â„¢s delivery. It may take some viewers a while to realize the level of depth, analysis, and enthusiasm that Professor Vandiver brings to the subject, or maybe we are just slow.

 

I last used both the Iliad and The Odyssey of Homer with my youngest for his 9th grade study of ancient history and literature. We followed the Essential Reading suggestions in the course guidebooks, using the Robert Fagles translations for both epics. We listened to all 12 lectures per epic and spent about 4-5 weeks on each. I think I required one paper and that was it. We spent many memorable hours discussing the literature and were blown away at being able to pull so much from works so remote from our own modern lives.

 

I now own every series by Vandiver and consider it to be money and time well-spent. Without her, Sailor Dude and I would probably still think that Achilles was a great blubbering idiot when it came to losing his concubine.

The Aeneid is just as fantastic by VanDiver. We covered it in much the same way you describe the Iliad and the Odyssey.

  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

This year for AP European History, we used Foundations of Western Civilization II: History of the Modern Western World (48 lectures). The test covers from 1450  to 2001 and this lecture series begins with Renaissance Humanism -1350 to 1650 after addressing geography and defining the 
Great Chain of Being. The dapper  Professor Robert Bucholz is at the top of our list for favorite Great Courses lecturers along with Dr. Vandiver. He is an excellent speaker with an easy,smooth command of the material and a dry wit. The course is engaging, insightful and easily lines up most standard AP Euro texts. I used The Making of the West by Lynn Hunt because my older kids had used and liked it, but I also pulled from The Western Experience by Chambers (on AP list), which is the text that Bucholz gives sections for essential reading.

 

We watched the lectures and made any additional notes on copies of the lecture outline. Our class work was dry and Bucholz was the highlight of our studies, so I didn't require anything beyond discussion for these lectures. There was enough to do with note taking for the text and practicing essays.

 

There are questions on the test relating to the various art movements and their respective artists. We did pull from How to Look at and Understand Great Art for the era-appropriate lectures and that was a success, but I'll cover that in a different post. Just know that they compliment each other and would work well for the AP text.

 

Additional resources included Sources of the West, Vol. 1 & 2 and Dennis Sherman's source book,the name of which escapes me right now.  The Source of the West is great and can be used for other history courses.

 

Whether you use Foundations 2 for a class or for personal enjoyment, you just can't go wrong with it.

 

Also, there is some overlap with Foundations 1 and 2, and if you want, you can use Lectures 40-48 on Foundations 1 to fill in extra details and to address the crisis in the late Middle Ages that sets the stage for the Renaissance.  Professor Thomas Noble is a fine speaker and we like him as well; we just happen to think that Professor Bucholz rocks!

 

Foundations 1 and 2 are worth having on hand for their solid overviews and flexibility for use in history courses.

 

  • Like 4
Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

Fine Arts - We used How to Listen to and Understand Music with out oldest boy and it was a really great series which I combined then with required concerts to either attend and review or watch on PBS. He kept a lecture notebook as well as wrote reviews and some other light writing assignments.

 

 

I have more music questions for you, Faith.

 

We used How to Look at and Understand Great Art this year in our AP European History class. I wish I had found it a bit earlier, because we only had time to jump in with the lectures that coincided with the historical era we were covering. It was so good, I decided that we would go back and cover the first half on terms and techniques through the next two years and build a Fine Arts credit. I looked at the How to Listen to and Understand Music series and realized that we could incorporate it as well.

 

One of my goals is  basic cultural literacy for my youngest. The older kids each had 3-5 years of piano; this had 3 months, so his familiarity with musical terms and music types is limited (as is mine.)

 

Robert Greenberg's course jumps right in with a chronological study. Do we need to start with Understanding the Fundamentals of Music for a better understanding or will that be overkill since the first series already has 48 lectures?

I want him to at least have a rough idea of what "timbre," "meter," and "pitch" mean.  I at least had the good fortune to attend school before all the music and art classes were cut. 

  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

This year for AP European History, we used Foundations of Western Civilization II: History of the Modern Western World (48 lectures). The test covers from 1450  to 2001 and this lecture series begins with Renaissance Humanism -1350 to 1650 after addressing geography and defining the 

Great Chain of Being. The dapper  Professor Robert Bucholz is at the top of our list for favorite Great Courses lecturers along with Dr. Vandiver. He is an excellent speaker with an easy,smooth command of the material and a dry wit. The course is engaging, insightful and easily lines up most standard AP Euro texts. I used The Making of the West by Lynn Hunt because my older kids had used and liked it, but I also pulled from The Western Experience by Chambers (on AP list), which is the text that Bucholz gives sections for essential reading.

 

We watched the lectures and made any additional notes on copies of the lecture outline. Our class work was dry and Bucholz was the highlight of our studies, so I didn't require anything beyond discussion for these lectures. There was enough to do with note taking for the text and practicing essays.

 

There are questions on the test relating to the various art movements and their respective artists. We did pull from How to Look at and Understand Great Art for the era-appropriate lectures and that was a success, but I'll cover that in a different post. Just know that they compliment each other and would work well for the AP text.

 

Additional resources included Sources of the West, Vol. 1 & 2 and Dennis Sherman's source book,the name of which escapes me right now.  The Source of the West is great and can be used for other history courses.

 

Whether you use Foundations 2 for a class or for personal enjoyment, you just can't go wrong with it.

 

Also, there is some overlap with Foundations 1 and 2, and if you want, you can use Lectures 40-48 on Foundations 1 to fill in extra details and to address the crisis in the late Middle Ages that sets the stage for the Renaissance.  Professor Thomas Noble is a fine speaker and we like him as well; we just happen to think that Professor Bucholz rocks!

 

Foundations 1 and 2 are worth having on hand for their solid overviews and flexibility for use in history courses.

 

This is awesome, Lisa! I was just looking at this class.  I enjoyed Noble's lectures (our library has that one) when I first started homeschooling/self educating, and I've been thinking about revisiting these in high school.  Glad to hear part 2 was a hit!

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have more music questions for you, Faith.

 

We used How to Look at and Understand Great Art this year in our AP European History class. I wish I had found it a bit earlier, because we only had time to jump in with the lectures that coincided with the historical era we were covering. It was so good, I decided that we would go back and cover the first half on terms and techniques through the next two years and build a Fine Arts credit. I looked at the How to Listen to and Understand Music series and realized that we could incorporate it as well.

 

One of my goals is  basic cultural literacy for my youngest. The older kids each had 3-5 years of piano; this had 3 months, so his familiarity with musical terms and music types is limited (as is mine.)

 

Robert Greenberg's course jumps right in with a chronological study. Do we need to start with Understanding the Fundamentals of Music for a better understanding or will that be overkill since the first series already has 48 lectures?

I want him to at least have a rough idea of what "timbre," "meter," and "pitch" mean.  I at least had the good fortune to attend school before all the music and art classes were cut. 

There is going to be some definite overlap between the two and this might kill his love due to boredom. I would recommend getting a basic "reading musical notation" workbook that includes theory - the circle of 5ths/major and minor scales, some simple chord structures, more explanation of meter, and standard terms, etc. and do that in addition to a concert series where the student is exposed to say Baroque, Classical, Romantic, and Contemporary/Modern Classic plus Broadway, Jazz, and a little pop. Make it a wide exposure. For those kids not minoring in music or pursuing performance or music education, I'm no fan of making the enjoyment of music so technical that they get bogged down in it.

 

PBS, AE, and BBC usually have some great concerts to watch, and if you have a symphony within commuting distance, find out if they have Young People's Concert series. These usually take place on an odd day of the week late in the afternoon, or before lunch on Saturday. The concert is more laid back, and the tickets are MUCH cheaper making it a lot more affordable for students and parents to attend. At the DSO's YPC series, ushers take microphones around after the performance and students can ask questions of both maestro and orchestra members. You might also check local colleges for cheap tickets to musicals. Fox Theatre in Detroit is just RIDICULOUSLY priced and most families just can not afford to attend. But, the Midland Center for the Arts is really reasonable as is the Flint Cultural Center so I would hope that other urban areas have similar options for families.

 

Expose and talk, expose and talk. A decent Music Appreciation course should not be so technical that it kills the love of music. It should enhance instead. You can count hours spent watching concerts, talk time, etc. and having the student journal their experiences, write some basic reviews, take some notes along with a very BASIC theory book is plenty for a full credit in my opinion for the non- music or art bound major.

  • Like 4
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Middle school dd finished Oceanography: Exploring Earth's Final Wilderness earlier this year. I originally though it would focus on marine life and although it touches on that the main focus is on the ocean itself - tides, trenches, wind patterns, waves, exploration, etc. 

 

http://www.thegreatcourses.com/tgc/courses/course_detail.aspx?cid=1730

 

In high school (in addition to many courses already mentioned) we enjoyed Shakespeare: Comedies, Histories, and Tragedies:

 

http://www.thegreatcourses.com/tgc/courses/course_detail.aspx?cid=280

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks for starting this thread. We love The Great Courses here. Most of our favorites have already been mentioned, but my daughter recently started a new course that has not. It is Heroes and Legends, and she seems to be enjoying it. It is a lighter literature course and I think it would be perfect for someone new to TGC or for a younger student. I am going to have my sixth grader watch it next year. 

  • Like 4
Link to comment
Share on other sites

We loved Classical Mythology http://www.thegreatcourses.com/tgc/courses/course_detail.aspx?cid=243 (also by Professor Vandiver) this year. We have been listening to the lectures throughout the year as we have been reading Greek literature. There is so much information there which really enriched our reading. 

 

I am currently listening to Classics of American Literature and am planning our literature course for next year around it. It too is an excellent course to use if you are focusing on American Literature. http://www.thegreatcourses.com/tgc/courses/course_detail.aspx?cid=250

 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Easily the biggest success for our study of Ancient History has been the course on Greek and Roman Technology. My son loved it and now wants the other course by Professor Ressler. He even asked to read the chapter in our history book that covers Roman technology, and this is a kid who never asks to do any work I don't force him to do. The professor uses lots of scale models and computer recreations to demonstrate how various machines worked; it's a fascinating class. I loved it too.

 

  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Great Courses For Middle School

 

Analysis and Critique: How to Engage and Write About Anything (8th-9th) - Post #20

Physics in Your Life, Posts #20

Medieval World, Posts #34

Nutrition Made Clear, Posts #20

The Other Side of History: Daily Life in the Ancient World, Posts #20

How to Become a Superstar Student, Posts #20

Oceanography: Exploring Earth's Final Wilderness, Posts #22

Heroes and Legends, Posts #23

 

 

* I am trying to only list courses that members have actually used (not contemplated using ) for middle school. This is a bit of a tough call, so if you disagree, just let me know. I am thinking "average middle school student," not super-accelerated and has watched TTC from birth. :D

  • Like 5
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Which format are y'all buying these in?  Especially the Illiad and Odyssey ones.  DVD/CD/Audio Download?  I can see advantages to all options.  If the visuals are worth the DVD's, then that would be worth doing.  

Thanks,

Danielle

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Easily the biggest success for our study of Ancient History has been the course on Greek and Roman Technology. My son loved it and now wants the other course by Professor Ressler. He even asked to read the chapter in our history book that covers Roman technology, and this is a kid who never asks to do any work I don't force him to do. The professor uses lots of scale models and computer recreations to demonstrate how various machines worked; it's a fascinating class. I loved it too.

I am no longer a Great Courses virgin :D I clicked your link, read the description, noticed that this course is deeply discounted, gave my ipad to dd to read the information, and ordered after she jumped up and down :D

 

Thanks! This will do nicely with next year's ancient history.

  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Which format are y'all buying these in?  Especially the Illiad and Odyssey ones.  DVD/CD/Audio Download?  I can see advantages to all options.  If the visuals are worth the DVD's, then that would be worth doing.  

Thanks,

Danielle

 

We have listened to Iliad, Odyssey, Classical Mythology, and the Aeneid by Ms. VanDiver.  She is pretty awesome.  I am currently listening to Medieval England by Jennifer Paton (also wonderful). Our family only uses Audio CD's unless it is absolutely necessary for understanding.  My son is very visual and watching the Great Courses is really distracting for him.  His father can come in also and make some not so fabulous comments about the dress or mannerisms of the lecturer and that throws the entire lesson off course.  We also do quite a lot in the car.  Living in a rural area, we drive frequently.  Putting in a Great Course CD is a nice way to have a different type of lesson and not boring car ride.

 

The Greek and Roman technology lecture is one where visuals outweigh this.  Experiencing Hubble: Understanding the Greatest Images of our Universe was another.  I don't even believe their are ways to get those in only audio because of how necessary the visuals are.  If it is an option, we go audio.  If it isn't an option, then I know it is pretty important to be able to see what is going on.

 

  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I am no longer a Great Courses virgin :D I clicked your link, read the description, noticed that this course is deeply discounted, gave my ipad to dd to read the information, and ordered after she jumped up and down :D

 

Thanks! This will do nicely with next year's ancient history.

 

:lol: There is no going back, my dear.

 

Trust me on that one. :tongue_smilie:

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

We did a year of Classical Mythology combining 4 of Elizabeth VanDiver's courses - Classical Mythology (#243), Iliad (#301), Odyssey (#302), and the Aeneid of Virgil (#303)

 

Classical Mythology was excellent.  The cultural details were much more in depth than we have found anywhere else truly showing how the culture was supported through its mythology.  We paired it with corresponding works in Bulfinch's Mythology, and World Mythology: Anthology of Great Myths and Epics by Rosenberg.   This was first to give background in the culture and the gods.  (Appropriate for middle school with a bit of fast forwarding through some of the more sexual discussion.  It amounted to only about 4 parts through the whole series, but surprised me in the lectures on Hermes with lots of talk about aroused males.)

 

The Iliad and the Odyssey were both taped consecutively as far as I can tell, and then split.  As such, much of the information about Homer and the Homeric Question were both included in the first few lectures of the Iliad before getting into the story of the Iliad.  The Odyssey covers much more of direct information about the actual tale, but very little about Homer.  Combined, they both play off one another quite well, though they could stand alone easily.

 

The Aeneid was a very easy one to add in with these as it caps off the Greek and Roman epics.  Presenting the Aeneid last, gave the references to the greek epics more of a context.  There is much that is mirrored from Homer in Virgil from the beginning lines in the Aeneid all the way through. This is a much overlooked epic, and VanDiver brings it to life so much better than my college humanities professor!

 

All three of the epics were accompanied by the Metropolitan Museum of Arts series called The Ancient World - Making Objects speak. 

http://jjcweb.jjay.cuny.edu/history/making_objects_speak/index.php/category/time-periods/the-ancient-world/

The MP3's walk you through various art and artifacts from the MET which are pertinent to the time periods of the three epics.  With a quick Google search, or a search on the MET's website, you can view each piece of artwork and hear how it is directly related to the epic with specific scenes mentioned.  Each MP3 is only about 6 minutes long, but makes these tales much more than just stories.

 

Two essays were written about each epic (one in the middle and one at the end) and two essays were written about an aspect of one of the mythological tales or one of the gods.

 

In total it works out to be 1 credit - 170 hours

Iliad - 48 hours (6 hours lecture, 35 hours reading and discussion, 1 hour Objects Speak, 6 hours writing)

Odyssey - 48 hours(6 hours lecture, 35 hours reading and discussion, 1 hour Objects Speak, 6 hours writing)

Aeneid - 48 hours (6 hours lecture, 35 hours reading and discussion, 1 hour Objects Speak, 6 hours writing)

Classical Mythology 25 hours- (12 hours lecture, 10 hours reading, 4 hours writing)

  • Like 4
Link to comment
Share on other sites

The first Great Course we ever used was Professor Dorsey Armstrong's Medieval World for seventh grade along with the reading list for Medieval from TWTM (6th grade?), K12's Human Odyssey (end of Vol. 1 and beginning of Vol. 2), and some of the volumes from Medieval and Early Modern World set. It was a wonderful year and my son enjoyed the lectures. We just discussed them afterwards and related them to what we had learned in our books.

 

There are 36 lectures and they give a solid overview of the time period. What really makes them more appropriate to middle school or early high school is the extended discussion of daily medieval life. While Phillip Daileader's courses also cover daily medieval life, the overall level of analysis is significantly more sophisticated in Daileader's lectures. Also, there are 72 lectures between his 3 courses on the Middle Ages. We thought Armstrong did a good job of making the times come alive.

 

We also like her delivery style which can be a bit flip at times, but it was one of the reason we went on to use her writing course.

 

ETA: While we enjoyed Armstrong's lectures for middle school, I would recommend Daileader's Early, High, and Late Middle Ages courses for high school if you have the time.

  • Like 4
Link to comment
Share on other sites

For all of you who have used the Great Courses....some advice please? I am doing American History next year with a 4th, 6th and 8th grader and was thinking about using this to beef things up for my DD13. Has anyone used it?

 

http://www.amazon.com/Great-Courses-Early-American-History/dp/B000Q34N1S/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1399030534&sr=8-1&keywords=1565859731

 

She's pretty bright and I think she can handle early HS material. Was this one any good? Any other recommendations?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm sad because I had all these plans to use the Great Courses lectures I had accumulated for homeschooling high school and now he's going to a charter school. :( I still hope to use them as supplements in case what they are doing just doesn't make sense or he needs a supplement. Here's what we've actually used at the high school level so far.

 

Lit Analysis and Writing

Analysis and Critique: How to Engage and Write About Anything

We're in the middle of this right now and using it as an intro to high school lit analysis and writing in 8th grade. I could see using this as a high school writing course for those that need to work on their writing. She covers many topics from writing arguments to poetry to rhetoric. I wanted him to at least have heard some of these concepts (some he's already familiar with, but could use some refreshing). She uses quotes and passages to demonstrate good and bad writing, then explains why. The guidebook has writing exercises that include everything from rewriting sentences to full essays. Ds is getting a lot out of the videos and has commented that he liked them.

 

Physics

Physics in Your Life and Physics and Our Universe

I have both and so far have mostly used Physics in Your Life.

Physics in Your Life is more of a conceptual introduction to physics. He has a lot of demonstrations, making it fun to watch. I used it to supplement ds's middle school science course.

Physics and Our Universe is MUCH deeper.

 

Health & Nutrition

Nutrition Made Clear

This was one part of a 3 part high school health course. I used ScienceFusion The Human Body to go through all of the functions and systems of the body. There is a small nutrition part in this, but it wasn't enough. Nutrition Made Clear was the video section. I had him answer all of the questions in the guide book. The 3rd part is The Boys Body Book which covers hygiene, puberty, drugs, and other misc subjects that he might need to know. I had planned to use The Human Body Detective Nutrition 101 with Nutrition Made Clear, but thought that would be overkill. I might still use "The Unhealthy Truth" book that goes with it. I just found HBD to be an awkward setup for us. I called this a blended learning course since we used online curriculum, videos and books.

 

 

We've used a few for middle school.

 

The Other Side of History: Daily Life in the Ancient World was fun supplement for our ancient history study. Ds enjoyed this one as well. We discussed the differences in how people were treated and lived. He wrote a compare/contrast paper about two lectures of his choice.

 

How to Become a Superstar Student 2nd Edition - Perfect for middle school grades. The lecturer has just the sense of humor and style that my middle schooler liked. I had him practice taking notes on it and identify what he needs to work on and how he could go about fixing them. At the end, I had him put all of those notes together and write a paper identifying his 3 major weaknesses and actions he has taken to work on them.

Plum Crazy..... I bought the Superstar Student for my two oldest dc & I really like what you have put together for Health and Nutrition. I think I'll get SF Human Body & Nutrition Made Clear for next year. We tried HBD at the beginning of the year and it didn't quite work for us. I still have the Unhealthy Truth book that I may read as a "Health" read aloud to my older children. Ă°Å¸Ëœâ€°

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

Another entry for Ancient History:

We're almost finished with Famous Romans, and we've enjoyed it. (Nothing could compete with that ancient technology course.) The professor is good at making links to modern history. My son finally gets why I've been so intent on his studying the Romans. In retrospect, I wish I'd also gotten the Famous Greeks course.

 

The professor does have an odd lecturing style, but my son got past it fairly quickly. You'll see references to it in the reviews on the site. Speaking as a former Classics major, I think the content is solid. There are some visuals, but I expect people could get by with the audio version. (My son and I don't do well with that format.) 

 

The lecturer we couldn't abide was Linwood Thompson of World History. This set has gotten good reviews on this forum and on the Great Courses site. The first lecture we watched was his overview of ancient Greece. He did it in an awful Southern accent. It might not bother other people, but it was an excruciating experience for Southerners. 

 

  • Like 4
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Another entry for Ancient History:

 

The lecturer we couldn't abide was Linwood Thompson of World History. This set has gotten good reviews on this forum and on the Great Courses site. The first lecture we watched was his overview of ancient Greece. He did it in an awful Southern accent. It might not bother other people, but it was an excruciating experience for Southerners.

Thank you for this one. I have been on the fence about it and after hearing the same over and over, I am finally letting it go. We will check out the ancient technology lecture, the everyday life of ancients, and European history or something.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I love Rome and the Barbarians by Harl. That was my first course. I listened while walking and also played it in the car. I consider it a nice history of the expansion of Rome. It starts with a couple lectures about the Roman government and army structure and then goes through Rome's encounters with each set of new barbarians as they are conquered and assimilated (or in turn overcome Rome).

 

When we did modern history we listened the most of the American Civil War, the late sections from the US History course that included lectures by Patrick Allitt, Victorian Britain (again by Patrick Allitt), World War 1 and World War 2.  We did skip around a bit, but listened to the bulk of these lectures.

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I love Rome and the Barbarians by Harl. That was my first course. I listened while walking and also played it in the car. I consider it a nice history of the expansion of Rome. It starts with a couple lectures about the Roman government and army structure and then goes through Rome's encounters with each set of new barbarians as they are conquered and assimilated (or in turn overcome Rome).

 

When we did modern history we listened the most of the American Civil War, the late sections from the US History course that included lectures by Patrick Allitt, Victorian Britain (again by Patrick Allitt), World War 1 and World War 2.  We did skip around a bit, but listened to the bulk of these lectures.

 

So you have the CDs for Rome and the Barbarians? This is an older series, so there is probably not much in the way of graphics on the DVD, do you think?

 

After we left modern Europe behind, we returned to the ancients. I would like to wrap up Rome this year. If I can find Rome and the Barbarians for a good price, do you think it would be worth the time instead of trying to piece lectures together from Foundations of Western Civ. I, Crisis in Late Antiquity, and even a few from the World of Byzantium?

 

By the way, Harl's Barbarian Empires of the Steppes is really enjoyable so far. He is a bit louder than in some of his earlier lectures, but I think the material is great.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

So you have the CDs for Rome and the Barbarians? This is an older series, so there is probably not much in the way of graphics on the DVD, do you think?

 

After we left modern Europe behind, we returned to the ancients. I would like to wrap up Rome this year. If I can find Rome and the Barbarians for a good price, do you think it would be worth the time instead of trying to piece lectures together from Foundations of Western Civ. I, Crisis in Late Antiquity, and even a few from the World of Byzantium?

 

By the way, Harl's Barbarian Empires of the Steppes is really enjoyable so far. He is a bit louder than in some of his earlier lectures, but I think the material is great.

 

 

Actually, the set we have is on cassette tape. It's one of the reasons we still have a tape player.  Though I was on the phone with Great Courses this morning and they explained that I could upgrade the series to CD for $10 per 12 lectures.

 

I'm a bit of a lecture junkie. I don't know if you would hit everything you're looking for with just the Rome and the Barbarians.  I think this set does concentrate on the empire before the rise of Byzantium.  There are definitely lectures in Foundations that cover topics not found in the Barbarians set, like the rise of Christianity.

 

I've had great luck with using sets from our library. That gives me more freedom to pick and choose or even to jettison a series if I decide it's not so great.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Has anyone used the Old Testament/New Testament ones for a Humantities slant?  We were looking to use it in two years (when we move on to Medieval) to provide a solid background/review for literary and artistic references, not for religious reasons (which the reviews obviously bash it for).

 

I worked up my syllabus for Ancient History next year to include:

History of Ancient Rome

Origins of Great Civilizations

Odyssey
Illiad

Anneid

Really looking forward to it!  We are actually focusing on Rome first because our last history program did such a poor job of it and she's starting Latin III in the Fall.  We may consider adding in the Roman Emperors one if we love the first two on this list (any feedback on that one?).  Also she is prepping for the National Roman Civilization Exam in March.
 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Memorial Day Sale 5/25/14

 

For today:

 

Priority Code - 10035

 

Free shipping - MEM14

 

or

 

15% off and free shipping on $125 or more - CK7J

 

Have fun!

You bad, bad person.

 

 

Bad, I tell you.

 

 

:)

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

TTC addicts love company!

 

Did anyone shop or did you all behave yourselves?

 

The last two major desires on my list are the British and American Lit classes and I am thinking that for the American Lit class, I will probably go used. It's still rather expensive.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have the first audio set ("part 1") of American lit. They are quite good, but use only a few authors and have three lecture on each author. It is not as comprehensive with literary periods as more a few focused author studies. That is not to deter you, just to let you know what the vibe they are going with.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I bought Meaning from Data: Statistics Made Clear for dh for father's day.  Has anybody used that one? I like Starbird, we're reading 5 Elements of Effective Thinking right now.  I'm wondering if this might be approachable for my kid, too, the timing will be perfect as we'll be doing Statistics first thing in the fall.

 

ETA: answered my own question - previewing this via streaming, i think it's great but not for a couple more years.  I bet this would be a nice complement to AoPS C&P, after mastering Algebra 1.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Just pointing out some of these courses are available cheaper on audible.com.

 

Example

 

I learned from regentrude that if a course is available as a audio-only option on the official Great Courses web site, it's fine to get it from audible.com if they carry it; the video is not as important for those.

 

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Just pointing out some of these courses are available cheaper on audible.com.

I learned from regentrude that if a course is available as a audio-only option on the official Great Courses web site, it's fine to get it from audible.com if they carry it; the video is not as important for those.

 

Actually it was not whether it is available only on audio, but whether the descriptions says that the course works in both audio or video formats.

 

Many of my favorite courses are available on video as well as audio, but there is really not much to see on the video besides a professor lecturing at a lectern.

 

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Ă—
Ă—
  • Create New...